Can Whalers Make Break From Past?

Get Another Chance At Canadiens

Whalers: Will It Be Different?

April 19, 1992|By JEFF JACOBS; Courant Staff Writer

This isn't Bruins-Canadiens. They haven't been battling since Gen. Pershing brought the doughboys home.

The Whalers-Canadiens playoff rivalry is measured only in recent years -- not in decades. The best-of-seven Adams Division semifinal series that starts tonight in Montreal (7:05, SportsChannel) is only the teams' fifth playoff meeting. Nonetheless, the seeds of a spring tradition are there.

Take 1980. The Canadiens swept the Whalers in three games. But you want a portrait for the ages? Gordie Howe and Bobby Hull, hockey's Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle, played their last NHL game together April 13 at the Civic Center. Gordie's boys, Mark and Marty, were Whalers, too. And they all were in line for the post-series handshake congratulating Guy Lafleur, Larry Robinson and other greats in bleu, blanc et rouge.

Take 1986. Claude Lemieux. Rising backhander. High to the glove side on Mike Liut. Seventh game. Five minutes, 55 seconds of overtime. Hartford's heartache. Whalers coach Jimmy Roberts was saying Saturday how he never sees a Red Berenson-style backhander rising like a crisp wrist shot anymore. Well, Lemieux hit the button that time and ended the greatest Whalers playoff series. Even after they won the Stanley Cup a month later, the Canadiens were calling the Whalers series their toughest.

Take 1988. Emile Francis and Larry Pleau played the trump card of aging King Richard Brodeur in goal. He gave up seven goals in Game 2 and was laughed off as Little Richard, a relic from another era. But Brodeur beat the Canadiens in the Forum 3-1 in Game 5, and a 3-0 series lead suddenly became 3-2. Francis rushed out of the stands to the locker room and planted a big kiss on Brodeur. The Canadiens won in six games anyway, and the Whalers haven't won a playoff game in the Forum since.

Take 1989, please. In overtime of Game 4, Kay Whitmore rushed out of his net 40 feet to field the puck. Russ Courtnall stole it, dumped a shot into the empty net and completed a four-game sweep. Everybody from Pleau to Francis got fired. Whitmore still lists it as his most embarrassing moment.

Circumstances vary, but there is one overwhelming element running through the playoff history. The Canadiens win every time.

Why will it be any different this year? The Canadiens finished first in the Adams Division with 93 points. The Whalers finished with the worst record (65 points) of the 16 playoff teams. Overall, only the San Jose Sharks and Quebec Nordiques had worse records than the Whalers. And both won their season series against the Whalers.

Still, many around hockey are giving the Whalers a legitimate shot against the Canadiens. A poll in Journal de Montreal had 59 percent of readers picking the Whalers.

What hasn't been perfect is the Canadiens' world. And that has led to rising speculation that the Whalers could topple the Canadiens.

Montreal finished the regular season 0-5-3 and goalie Patrick Roy, the team MVP, has been shaky of late.

The Whalers were 2-3-3 in the Montreal season series -- and none of the games were during the Canadiens' March swoon. Seven of the eight games were ties or one-goal decisions. All were close.

"We certainly are not the favorites," Whalers center John Cullen said. "Montreal is a great team. With the players they have, what they've done through the years and their experience, I don't think much is going to bother them.

"Obviously, as far as the team goes, we had a terrible year. To go far in the playoffs, we'd forget that year. That's what I'm looking for. There's a redemption factor. It can solve a lot of things. Look at Minnesota last year. They had an awful year and went to the Stanley Cup finals. For us to go far, our top players will have to play great and we're going to need unbelievable goaltending by Frank [Pietrangelo]. Everybody has to pick it up two notches."

"I don't think there should be panic on the streets of Montreal," Davidson said. "In many ways, I think the Canadiens have been a victim of their division. They were so many points ahead of anybody, you tend to lose an edge. The division games were not as intense or meaningful. I still believe the defensive teams usually win in the playoffs, and Montreal gave up the least goals [207] this year. I know Patrick Roy hasn't been as sharp, but he's a great goalie and I don't foresee him having a bad playoff."

"You play Montreal, you know what you'e going to get: Roy; two defensive lines that can shut you down; Denis Savard dancing on the power play; Kirk Muller giving it to you; and maybe (Shayne) Corson stepping up. But with the Whalers, you really don't have an idea. What's their personality? Their identity? I don't know."